Enjambment

TO A POOR OLD WOMAN

munching a plum on
the street a paper bag
of them in her hand

They taste good to her
They taste good
to her. They taste
good to her

You can see it by
the way she gives herself
to the one half
sucked out in her hand

Comforted
a solace of ripe plums
seeming to fill the air
They taste good to her

Reread the above poem, from William Carlos Williams, several times to yourself.

Do you notice the different ways you read the line “They taste good to her”? In this instance, Williams shows us the power of line breaks, and their effect on how a line is read.

In the first and last appearance of the line, one can not help but place the emphasis on the old lady:

They taste good to her

Where as in the second occurrence, you emphasize the quality of the taste:

They taste good
to her.

And in the third, it is the sensory word that is emphasized:

They taste
good to her.

By altering the location of the enjambment, you get an altering of focus for what is truly important, without changing the words or their order.

For the vast majority of free verse the emphasis in your inflection should come down on the last syllable within the line, or the next to last, depending on how many syllables are in that last word, and where you would normally stress it.

When writing your own poetry, pay close attention to the words you place at the ends of your lines.

Are these the words you want to stress?
Are they the focus of your writing?
Are they the strongest words in your piece?
Are they the strongest words you can use to make your point?

By asking yourself these questions, and using them as part of your editing process, you have one tool that can help to bring your poetry to the next level.